South Korea under pressure

A few weeks ago, the Chinese celebrated "Tomb Sweeping".  Much like our Memorial Day, they visit the burial sites of their ancestors and perform rituals.  For this holiday, we had some days off of work and school.  We decided to visit Jack's best friend, Josh, and his family who recently moved from Beijing to Seoul, South Korea.  Jack has been missing him a lot...that is one of the hard things about being an expat.  You meet a lot of other families who do the same thing at living in a city for a few years and then move on.  This year has been hard for Jack who has seen several friends leave Beijing.  I heard today of another dear family leaving this summer to go back to Australia.  Jack is unaware of this currently, but he has asked us, "When am I going to be the one who leaves?"  Believe it or not, but two years is a general expat assignment and if you stay longer like we will, then you see more people move on around you.  Please pray for Jack as he experiences the feelings of loss.  May he come to realize that only God is constant and will ALWAYS be there for him.  God is always with him.

Ok, now that I am on the verge of tears........

Here is Jack and Josh!  They got to spend the night together two nights in a row, thank you Julie (Josh's mom). 

Jeff and I also got to enjoy great time with our friends (Josh's parents) and laugh a ton.  They are a dear family and Jeff and I feel very fortunate that we have gotten to know them.  We look forward to meeting up with them many more times!

We went to a great Korean restaurant- it is BBQ style where you grill and cook your own food.  Korean food is known for its kimchi and how they pickle a lot of things.  This restaurant was very good.  Of course, Jack and Grace loved the beef! 

There were Baskin Robbins, Dunkin Donuts, and coffee shops EVERYWHERE!  We picked up some donuts for the train ride back to the hotel....a late night snack.

How about some octopus jerky??  No??? Are you sure??  Found this on the street.  Did not try it.  I wanted to get a better picture, but did not want to be rude.  I might have had to actually buy some if they saw me take a picture.

As you've probably heard in the news, Seoul and South Korea in general have been pressured recently by North Korea.  Please pray for these people, North and South alike.  Seoul is actually a rapidly growing Christian city, pray that God would make himself known in North Korea.

How about some gorgeous buds springing up in our backyard?